Bruno Fernandes has highlighted the impact of Christian Eriksen coming on and assisting Amad to put Manchester United ahead against Southampton.

Eriksen, 32, entered the pitch in the aftermath of Amad equalising in the 82nd minute. The midfielder replaced Noussair Mazraoui at the same time as Harry Maguire came on for Leny Yoro when Ruben Amorim made his fourth and fifth changes of the night.

Eight minutes later, with his eighth and final touch of the match, the Denmark international lofted a ball over the top of the Saints defence into the path of Amad, who volleyed what proved to be the winner past Aaron Ramsdale. That was the first time they had ever combined to score a goal.

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Amad then scored his and United's third to complete a first senior hat-trick. Following the full-time whistle, Fernandes shared the club's Instagram post showing Amad with the match ball underneath his arm and the player of the match award in his hand on his Instagram story.

The post's caption reads "United DNA", while the word "HERO" has been added to the photo. Fernandes said "Bravo piccolo" on his story, tagging Amad in the post. The piccolo is a half-size flute, named after the Italian word for small.

Amad emigrated to Italy from the Ivory Coast at a young age and spent several years at Atalanta's academy before United signed him. Fernandes also knows Italian after joining Novara at a young age before playing for Sampdoria and Udinese until Sporting, and eventually United, came calling.

After congratulating Amad, Fernandes turned his attention to Eriksen, saying, "What a lovely ball (smiling face with heart-eyes emoji). Magical touch (top hat emoji)." The Dane acknowledged the message by resharing the post on his story. He later shared a photo of him and Amad hugging in celebration.